A/N: Hello there! So glad you're here to read the newest chapter in my little story. I'm trying to keep to an update every week but life is getting very busy so I don't know if I'll be able to hold to that.

Laura the chef was awesome at getting this chapter ready to go. All credit, seriously.

The author claims no ownership of the show, characters, settings, or plots. Any resemblance to any real people, places, or events is entirely coincidental.

Enjoy!


Regina approached Henry in Granny's as he hunched over his story book. "What are you doing, sweetheart?"

He looked up and smiled at his adoptive mother. "Another Operation, Mom. I was reading this book again when I realized that most of what's in here is written from the hero's point of view. It only ever shows you as the Evil Queen, not Regina. So, maybe if we could find the Author somehow, like if he was in Storybrooke like so many others from the Enchanted Forest, we could show him you've changed and maybe convince him to write you a happy ending."

"Darling, that's a wonderful idea!" his mother exclaimed, clapping her hands.

Narrowing his eyes, Henry tried to figure out what caused the strange outburst. She'd never been prone to demonstrations of excitement before, but maybe the chance at finding her Happy Ending elicited more than she could control. Still, something was off. "Th – thanks, mom. So, I'm just combing through the book, trying to find something that could help us figure out who the Author is."

His mother gave him a knowing look. "But don't you have homework to do? Run along darling and take care of that. I'll take a turn looking for our mysterious Author."

Henry did a double-take at that command. It was so unlike the way his mother usually spoke to him that he had to stop and look to make sure it was really her. "Okay, Mom," he answered in a slow, measured tone, "I guess I'll see you at home then?"

"That you will. I'll just have a shake here and look over the book. Maybe something will strike me. I'll have a pizza waiting when you get home," she answered with a smile that was just a bit wider than he was used to seeing from her.

With one more odd look at his mother, Henry turned and walked out of Granny's, glancing back over his shoulder to see her poring over the book. He shook his head free of the doubts plaguing him.


Once he was gone, Regina stood up, closed the book, and followed his path out of the diner, turning down an alley between Granny's and the building next door. As soon as she was out of sight of the other patrons, she wiggled her fingers. A shimmer of light enveloped her as the glamour spell faded to reveal Rumpelstiltskin himself.

"Having the heart of the truest believer can sometimes make you useful, my dear grandson," he rumbled to himself as he teleported back to his cabin, storybook securely in his grasp.


Regina flipped through a photo album as she reclined on a chair in Emma's room. As the blonde slept on, she gazed at her face on film. Seeing Emma's face in happier times, almost always with Henry. With every new image, whether it was Henry and Emma laughing as they played a video game, or a candid shot of them having dinner at Granny's, the pang in her chest became harder to ignore.

Denial was becoming harder and harder to maintain.

The signs had been in front of her all along. The fact that she'd missed how Emma had wormed her way into Regina's life without her even being aware of the woman's efforts was stunning. The skinny, stubborn woman had been able to do what no one else ever had – get through Regina's defenses and become part of her life against her will.

From the first moments Emma had shown up with her son and a promise that she was leaving to the breaking of that promise, to their joint efforts opening portals, defusing triggers, and moving actual planetary bodies together, their lives had gradually become so entwined that Regina now no longer had any pangs in her chest at the thought of allowing Henry to spend time with his birth mother. Well, at least that's how she'd felt before Emma had gone to the past and inadvertently stolen away her…what?

Regina furrowed her brow, looking down at a beatific smile frozen on Emma's face as she hugged Henry. She tried to define what exactly the blonde had stolen from her but the farther away she got from the moment, especially with the knowledge of Emma's final hour of memories playing in her own mind on repeat, the less she was able to put a term on it. At one point she considered Robin Hood to be her True Love, as identified by the pixie dust and the damned lion tattoo, but his wife still being alive seemed to put paid to that particular notion.

Sitting back in her chair, Regina took a moment to consider the failure of her relationship with her supposed soulmate in Robin Hood. It wasn't either of their faults. She'd even lost the desire to blame Emma for her mistake. It was just a gigantic failure of circumstance. She couldn't expect Robin to stay with her when his actual wife was there. Regina sighed, thinking about what it meant for her. It was a given in the Enchanted Forest that the lucky few would find their True Loves in some way, but it didn't happen to everyone. Regina snorted; the fairies made much importance of themselves for their ability to grant wishes in order to maintain their position within the White kingdom. Living in this world during the Dark Curse had exposed her to a different way of thinking, one much more in line with her mindset after shoving her mother through the portal: that she was in control of her own destiny.

Thirty years before the idea of finding love with anyone related by blood to Snow White would have had her in a laughing fit before fireballing the idiot who suggested it out of existence. Now though…Emma Swan was changing her mind, a thought staggering in and of itself.

She looked over at the sleeping woman. The only part of her that didn't put the photographs to shame was her expression. No one in a cursed sleep smiled, which on Emma made her look somber. In the image Regina kept of Emma in her mind, the other woman had the encouraging smile she wore in Neverland when it seemed they'd never beat Pan in time to save Henry, or in Storybrooke when they needed her courage to help defeat Zelena. Emma always seemed to be ready to support everyone around her.

Regina got to her feet and moved over to the blonde's bed. Looking more closely at her, she began to realize that her impressions were based on memories. Whatever hell the younger woman had endured during her last few weeks before cursing herself had taken a terrible toll. For the first time she noticed how Emma's sunken cheeks, visible ribs, and protruding pelvic bones all indicated a far less than ideal diet, especially for a woman without an ounce of extra fat to lose.

Her skin had a sallow, sickly tone to it, and her hair, once as lustrous as Rumpel's famous spun gold, was lank.

She wondered when the last time Emma had eaten before putting herself under the sleeping curse. The more she looked at the younger woman, the more she thought it was a question of days, not hours. Regina felt twin pangs of pity and guilt so strong she had to put her hand on her chest, so strongly was her heart pounding.

The evidence was beginning to be too much to ignore.

Physical attraction? Check.

Emotional empathy and caring? Check.

Evidence that the blonde cared for her as well? Check.

Just as Regina sighed and put her head in her hands, she heard the front door opening and closing, followed by the heavy footsteps that announced Henry's arrival. Leaving her surprising revelations to Emma's room, she made her way down the stairs.

"Henry? What are you doing home?"

The look of shock on his would have been comical had she not been the cause. "Mom?! How did you beat me home?"

"Beat you home? Honey, I've been home all afternoon, trying to figure out how to wake your mother up."

He gaped, concern spreading across his normally genial expression. "But…but…but," he stammered.

Seeing the worry spread across his entire being raised her motherly hackles. "What's wrong?"

"Didn't you just now have me give you my book to study at Granny's? You said you'd have a pizza waiting for me when I got home," declared Henry, studying her face for any signs she was kidding him.

"I've been here all afternoon, Henry. I haven't stopped trying to find a magical way of waking Emma," she explained at a slow, clear pace.

"Then, who was at Granny's?" he asked, concern giving way to real worry, "and who has the book?!"

Regina raised her hands. "Someone has your book? What happened?"

"I was at Granny's studying my book for some clue about the Author when you came in. Or at least I thought it was you. Anyway, you said that I should go home and do my homework. You – or whoever that was – said that they'd look over the book and have a pizza waiting for me for dinner," explained the boy, searching his memory for everything he could remember.

"And that wasn't your first clue that something was weird?" Regina smiled at him, hoping humor could distract him from what happened. "Think a minute. What else happened? Was there anything this person did that didn't seem like me in any way?"

"Well," he thought, scrunching up his face, "you called me 'darling' a lot, which you don't really do. You've always called me 'dear'."

"Darling?" Regina clarified, feeling a memory click into place. "I know who we're dealing with. Henry, you can have that pizza for dinner tonight. I'll have one delivered, but I need to get over the Snow and Charming's," she answered, getting to her feet and grabbing her purse.

He followed her to the door. "Mom? What's going on? Who was pretending to be you?"

She hesitated, weighing how much he hated being lied to versus telling him something that would worry him without good reason. Settling on the truth, she looked him right in the eye. "The only person I know who says 'darling' that much is Cruella. I need you to stay here, stay out of sight, and stay safe. I'll do one better than I promised earlier," she said, waving her arms and conjuring a steaming hot pizza on a pan on the table, "There, now no one even has to come here to deliver. Stay safe, Henry. I don't know what Cruella and Ursula, since they came here together, are up to, but I need to keep an eye on them, okay?"

Henry nodded with wide eyes, understanding her seriousness. "I'll stay here, promise."

Regina gave him a tight smile. "My brave little prince."

Without another word, she disappeared in a swirl of violet smoke.


Snow leaned across the table to whisper to her husband, lest the entire diner hear what they were discussing. She didn't want to think of the uproar that would ensue if Snow White and Prince Charming themselves were discussing ways to get the Evil Queen to wake the Savior with True Love's kiss. "So Emma hasn't woken up yet, which means that Regina either hasn't figured it out or she's actively in denial about everything."

David grinned. He wasn't entirely sure in the immediate aftermath of finding their daughter, but Snow wasn't letting go of her belief and her sheer vehemence had won him over. "Okay, I give, I give. I just don't know how you expect to nudge her in that direction. She's not exactly the kind of person to take direction well, especially from us."

"I know! I just hope she figures it out soon, otherwise we're going to have to take more drastic measures, but I have no idea what those would be!" she exclaimed.

His reply was lost in silence that followed the clatter of Granny's doorbell. Normally a quiet room wouldn't have overridden his voice, but in this particular case where a fork hitting the floor would have echoed, the silence drowned out all other noise.

Maleficent walked in.

Calling her entrance walking would have been unfair to walking. Maleficent marched into the diner like she owned the place. Scanning the room, her gaze finally rested on the stunned Snow and David. "Ah, just the people I wanted to see," she declared.

The rest of the diner's patrons gave her a wide berth as she made her way through the restaurant. When she got to the Charmings' table, she looked at Snow and gave her head a sideways jerk. "Sit over there with him. I need to talk to you two."

Snow scurried out of her seat and next to her husband, clasping his hand in an iron grasp born of terror. "David!" She hissed.

"Calm down, Snow. We'll be safe here," he reassured her, fighting off his wince at a grip the strength of which he hadn't felt since she was in labor.

Maleficent rolled her eyes and sat down across from them. "Relax, you two idiots. I'm not here to kill you. This time, anyway." She nodded to Ruby as the girl approached. "Water, please."

"What do you want?" asked Snow.

The older woman snorted. "Luckily for the two of you, I'm in a good mood today. The Dark One showed me my daughter. She's alive, and in this world."

Two gaping mouths greeted her statement. Maleficent sighed. "Yes, I know. It's a miracle. Anyway, I figured that since the two of you did what you did in sending her to this world, you owed it to me to help me find her."

David caught up to himself first. "But how are we supposed to help you? We can't exactly leave the town. Once over the line, you lose all memory of who you are."

"So what are we going to do about this?"

The Charmings shared a look. Snow looked back at their former adversary and offered an olive branch. "Well, our daughter is good at finding people. It's what she did before…"

"Before she killed me, you mean?" Maleficent interjected, acid dripping from every word.

"That was different. The Dark One arranged this whole thing. He told me to hide the egg in your ear," David hurried to explain, "and he told her to get it back. He orchestrated the entire Dark Curse as a way of getting to this realm to find his son. He manipulated Regina, he manipulated me, he manipulated Emma, he did all of this."

For the first time in their conversation, the older woman sat back and took in what they were saying. It certainly made sense that the Dark One set events in motion that affected so many lives. He was known for his machinations, and finding one's lost offspring was a powerful motivator, as she was discovering. "Well," she said slowly, "If your daughter can cross the town line and is good at finding people, let's go get her. If she helps find my Lily, I won't try to kill the two of you anymore."

"It – it's not that simple," Snow stammered, fearing the reaction her words would generate.

"Of course it isn't. When is anything with you two ever that easy?" Maleficent growled. "What's the problem this time?"

"Our daughter is temporarily indisposed," David said, laying both his hands on the table, "It's a long story, but she put herself under the Sleeping Curse."

"Well why haven't you two idiots kissed her awake yet?" the blonde asked, stupefied.

Snow leaned forward, the anger of a mother defending her child coursing through her. "Don't you think that's the first thing we tried?" she hissed. "There are…reasons why we were unable to wake her."

"Well?"

"We sent her to this world through an enchanted wardrobe just before the Dark Curse hit because Rumpelstiltskin told us she was fated to find us on her twenty-eighth birthday and break the curse," David sighed, knowing how bad his words would sound to this person more than any other.

Maleficent gave a dry, humorless chuckle. "You are certainly the experts at sending babies through portals, aren't you? Is that what heroes do?"

"He just told you: it was foretold that she would break the Curse. We did what we had to do," Snow ground out, "In any event, reasons are immaterial. We're still stuck with the reality that we can't wake Emma."

"Do you have any idea who can, then?" Maleficent asked, quirking an eyebrow skyward.

David and Snow shared a conspiratorial look. "Funny you should mention that…" Snow began, allowing a smile to cross her face for the first time.


The weight of embarrassment hung heavy on Regina's shoulders as she gave her front door a slow push closed. On her way home she'd reflected on the many embarrassing moments she'd had at Granny's Diner over the years. Henry's early tantrums and food-spilling had mortified her until she realized that Storybrooke's citizens, even in their cursed personalities, understood that children made messes and it wasn't a slight on her.

Not being invited to Emma and Snow's 'welcome back' celebration was bad enough, but not quite on the level of what she'd just had to do. Slinking into Granny's, asking customers if they'd noticed which way she'd headed earlier because she'd dropped her book and was so lost in thought about how to wake the Savior she'd forgotten where she'd walked was the low point. Storybrooke's citizenry had looked at her like she was losing her mind.

Maybe she was.

Regina leaned her forehead against the cool metal of the fireproof door, seeking a desperate moment of relief. The strain of trying to wake Miss Sw…Emma along with taking care of her son, keeping an eye on the Charmings, and listening for any disturbances linked to the town's newest arrivals was getting to her. One solid night of sleep was all she needed. Just one. She closed her eyes, even while standing against the door, thinking that if she could just…

A knock on the other side of the door from where her head rested startled her so much that she jumped backward two full feet. Henry's light had been on when she got home – always the first place she looked when arriving back at her house – and the Charmings weren't visiting that she could recall.

Even still it was probably Snow stopping by to give her another hope speech, she grumbled to herself before dragging the door open again. "I told you, Snow: I'm working on it, and I still haven't made any progress!"

All her movement stopped at once seeing a raised blond eyebrow.

"Well, I'm not exactly Snow White, dear, but I hope I'll do," Maleficent drawled, the corners of her mouth quirking upward in the beginnings of a smirk.

Regina's own mouth moved up and down in an effort to speak but no words came out.

"Come now, Regina. You act as if you've seen a ghost," said the blonde as she strolled into the house, doffing her coat and holding it out to the Mayor.

Finding her voice, Regina took the garment and hung it on the hooks nearby, shaking her head. "That's because I have. You ARE a ghost. Emma killed you. How the hell are you here?"

"I was brought back," Maleficent responded, moving into the living room to inspect the dwelling, "Not resurrected. A far cry from your old castle, but I guess in this drab world you have to make due."

"That's impossible!"

"That your…house is drab? Not impossible. I'm standing right here. As for being returned to my true form? Nothing is impossible if One particular magical being has enough power," answered the other witch.

Moving after her former friend into the living room, Regina stared. "There's only one magic user with enough power to…" she trailed off as the implications struck.

"Exactly, dear. He's back."

Taking a deep breath to regain her composure, Regina looked at Maleficent. The Dark One's magic was as efficient as ever. Not a hair out of place on her head and dressed in a suit of this world, she looked nonetheless ready for action as always. Seeing someone she once counted as a friend back in the flesh after almost forty years drove fresh waves of guilt.

"I know there's no way I can truly apologize to you for what I did. Living here, and especially living through what's happened in my life the last few years has taught me so much, has changed me so much. I can't begin to express how much I regret the decisions of my past life. I'm sorry for everything. If there is still room in your heart for me, I would like to begin working my way back into your friendship," she declared, looking down at her hands. Whatever expression might be on Maleficent's face in that moment, she wasn't brave enough to see.

There was a long silence. At last too antsy to wait any longer, Regina looked up to see the blonde blinking rapidly, taken aback at her words.

"I accept your apology, Regina, but whether or not we can return to the friendship we had in the old world, I just don't know. What you did to me was unnecessary, un-called for. I did nothing to you to deserve that kind of punishment," Maleficent answered with a wavering voice that drew strength from her own words.

"In any event, the Dark One has been successful. Taking the book from your son – and believe me when I say that when all this is over, we WILL be discussing you having a son – Rumpelstiltskin was able to deduce where the Sorcerer imprisoned the man and set him free."

Regina watched the blonde's face turn from somber to teasing to worrisome in the span of a few sentences. "So why haven't we all been written back to the Enchanted Forest as slaves to the Dark One's every whim?" she threw out, hoping that he flippancy was deserved.

Maleficent chuckled, flexing her fingers as if trying to conjure something into her hand, but failing to generate anything more than a few sparks. She grunted at her rusty magic's refusal to obey her will.

"You'll get the hang of it after a while," Regina explained, "Magic is different here. What were you trying to summon?"

Another chuckle. "It's been almost forty damned years trapped as an overgrown lizard. I want a drink!"

Regina returned the smile, hesitant at first, waiting to see if it would be accepted. When Maleficent kept her grin, she wiggled her own hand, summoning a heavy crystal tumbler of her finest cider to appear in her old friend's hand.

Wrinkling her nose at the sweet smell of the drink, Maleficent took a tentative sip. Her eyebrows raised at the way the tangy sweetness of the apples exploded on her tongue as the bubbles danced their way across her palate. She took a much bigger, more appreciative drink. "We never had anything like this in the Enchanted Forest," she breathed.

Regina's answering smile grew in force and warmth. "I came across this in my first few years here. Juice from my apple tree, fermented with a specific kind of yeast. It took me a while to get the balance of sugar and alcohol right, but this drink has magic all its own."

The blonde looked at her, seeing the simple joy of Regina's pride at something she'd created. "So it's true. Rumpel said you'd essentially abandoned Dark Magic for White in this world. He said you were going soft."

"It is true," Regina affirmed, "I have gone to the Light Side of the Force," she rolled her eyes at the reference. Too many viewings of the Star Wars films with Henry growing up had imprinted that universe's mythos into her brain.

"The what?" Maleficent looked entirely lost

Shaking her head, Regina waved off the irrelevancy, "It's a popular culture reference from this world. Tell you what, if we get through whatever's about to happen together, I'll get you caught up on what you've missed."

"Anyway, Rumpelstiltskin has the man, but the man does not have his tools. Namely, his enchanted ink," the blonde finally answered Regina's question from several minutes before.

"And without the enchanted ink, he has no power. He's actually worse off than those damned fairies with their wands," breathed Regina.

"Yes. Whatever did you do with those annoying moths, by the way?"

White magic user or not, Regina's answering smirk was as wicked as any Zelena could muster. "I made them all nuns. Religious figures in this world, dedicated to lives of celibacy, cloistered together, more or less away from society."

Maleficent's laughter echoed deep and rich off the walls. "That's almost enough to make up for trapping me as a dragon. Brilliant, Regina. Brilliant."

"Thank you."

"Anyway, there's apparently only one way the Dark One can give the Author the ink he needs for his happy ending," Maleficent went on, "and that's with the tainted blood of a powerful White Magic user."

"Emma," Regina whispered, dread forming a leaden ball in the pit of her stomach.

"The same one who threw a stick through my guts," Maleficent nodded, "I can admit I wouldn't exactly mind seeing him spike the little bitch, though I don't really relish the thought of what Rumpelstiltskin's happy ending might be, especially with the Author himself under his protection."

"So why are you telling me this? Why warn me?" Regina asked.

"The Dark One, as a condition of my participation in his little scheme, showed me a vision, that my daughter is alive in this world. Talking with Prince Charming and Snow White in whatever the hell a diner is, they said their daughter, who just happens to be the one who broke your curse, has a great deal of skill in finding people. They also said that you were working on a way to wake her from a self-imposed Sleeping Curse? My gods, Regina, if we can send Rumpelstiltskin on his merry way, you're going to have to sit down and explain all the ins and outs of this crazy little town of yours."

Regina goggled, but Maleficent plowed on before she could answer. "This is merely a warning. The Dark One doesn't need her alive; he just needs her blood. I need her alive to help find my daughter. Then we can hash it all out and figure out where we stand. Wake the girl up, Regina. Beat Rumpel at his own game and we'll put a stop to this madness."

So saying, the blonde downed the last of her drink and got to her feet. "I'll show myself out. I suspect you have a lot of thinking to do," she challenged.

The sound of the front door closing was the only sound in the house, but it was almost drowned out by the blood rushing through Regina's ears at all the information she'd just learned.


"So what would you like me to write for you first?" Isaac asked, twisting his fingers together as he tried to calm his nerves. The dark atmosphere in the pawn shop set him on edge. Then again, maybe it the company. He wasn't exactly used to being in the presence of so much dark magic.

The Dark One gave a malevolent chuckle. "Nothing yet. You and I both know that pen of yours is useless, dearie. There's no way for you to write without the ink, and there's no ink here in Storybrooke."

Isaac goggled at him. "Then why the hell did you bother freeing me from that damned two-dimensional prison?"

Rumpelstiltskin grinned. "Because I know where we can get the tainted blood we need to make the ink."

"So what are we waiting for?"

"It won't be easy. The source is…well-guarded."

With a wry look, Isaac huffed and paced around the pawn shop. "Well then, what shall we do?"

"We?" Rumpelstiltskin chuckled, but his tone turned deadly serious as he fixed the lanky man in place with a glare, "We don't do anything, Author. I will handle everything. It won't be easy; Regina was always my best pupil. Rest assured, though, that we will triumph. I will get that blood to make the ink. And you will give me my happy ending."


A/N: We're getting down to the wire here. I never did like Mr. Gold.

Thoughts? Comments, reviews, and constructive criticism always welcome!